Green Bay Packers have been the kings of one-score victories. Is that a good thing? Yes and no. Yes, because it shows they know how to close out close games. No, because, things tend to flip itself. It is the law of large averages. For now, let’s enjoy the one-score victories then remind ourselves of what happened when they lose some close games. Packers held on yesterday to beat the Panthers, 24-16, with a goal-line stand against Christian McCaffery in the final seconds of the game. It was a helluva victory for the team. Packers are now 8-2 heading into their bye week.

Player of the Game: Kenny Clark – No one stood up more than Kenny Clark in this game. People started to hate Clark. Whether that was legitimate or not, Clark found a way to be a football player again. Credit goes to him and the coaching staff in this game. They found ways to get Clark loosened up on the defensive line. He had a push all game long. Clark did have some injuries earlier in the year, and it’s possible he had some real injury issues that affected how he played in the last couple of weeks.

Honorable Mention: Aaron Jones & Jamaal Williams – The dynamic duo struck again. We talked about this last week that people forget that Carolina’s rush defense is worse than the Packers. Jones and Williams exposed them all game long. Jones rushed for 93 yards with three touchdowns. While Williams rushed for 63 yards as well. As a team, the Packers rushed for 163 yards.

One Thing I Liked: Matt LaFleur’s aggressive nature – I loved going for it on fourth down at the end of the first half. The execution could have been better obviously. He rushed it right up in the middle which Carolina had read all the way. Play action would have easily worked there. And Aaron Rodgers and LaFleur wasted about seven seconds before calling a timeout earlier in the drive. Packers being an aggressive team is a good thing, and it will continue to work for them.

One Thing I Didn’t Like: Packers need to better in the middle of the field – Tight ends are still killing the Packers. They did get Ibrheim Campbell back who did a good job against Christian McCaffery, but that didn’t help them versus Greg Olsen. Olsen looked 25 years old out there with eight catches and 98 yards with some huge third-down catches. Packers have yet to figure out how to stop the tight end position.

Next up: Packers will be on bye this week and will play San Francisco in two weeks. 49ers are still undefeated but could be no more after tonight against Seattle. I do think it’s going to be a primetime game by tomorrow. League will wait to hype up after Seahawks-Niners. Packers are in for something with the coach versus the student. It’s a fascinating matchup.

Charlie.